One hundred and three years ago this month, Belmont Park opened. Described by racing historian William H.P. Robertson as “by far the most magnificent establishment of its kind in America,” the new track hosted the Metropolitan Handicap on opening day, the race having been transferred from its original home at the Morris Park track in…
“The Triple Crown races are to showcase the future stallions of our industry andfillies should run with fillies and stallions with stallions.” So said Dolphus Morrison, the then-owner of Rachel Alexandra following her dominating win in the Kentucky Oaks. No second guessing for this owner, no wondering how she might have fared had she been…
On this day, after this week, when much has been written about the decision to run Rachel Alexandra in the Preakness, the Grade II Shuvee is being run at Belmont Park. In 1970, Shuvee became the first filly to win the two mile Jockey Club Gold Cup, raced then at Aqueduct. It was her fourth…
There is something unsettling about the name of Peter Pan, the 1907 Belmont Stakes winner by Commando out of Cinderella. Thinking about Cinderella giving birth to Peter Pan is the stuff that childhood nightmares are made of, and “Commando” certainly brings up rather a different image from Prince Charming. Peter Pan’s racing career was relatively…
So says a 1949 New York Times article by Arthur Daley on the passing of Matt Winn. The article was called “The Passing of a Legend,” and what he “made” is the Kentucky Derby. Matt Winn, a racing impresario if ever there was one, worked at a dozen or more tracks in his life, but…
One hundred and four years ago this week, Belmont Park opened. Hailed as a track that would appeal to the general public and not simply to bettors, Belmont occasioned a week of coverage leading up its opening, the day after which the Times declared, “There has never been a more brilliant assemblage at any race…
The Rail, the New York Times racing blog, launched this week for the 2009 Triple Crown season, and this post appeared there yesterday. ***************************************** They certainly got the name right. One can imagine Mrs. John D. Hertz, breeder and owner of a brown colt born in 1940, looking at his pedigree—the colt was by Reigh…
Alfred G. Vanderbilt sure knew a Good Thing when he saw her, especially when it came to breeding. In 1946, he bred his Discovery mare, Good Thing, second in the Gazelle at age three but with an otherwise undistinguished race record, to Rosemont. And what do you get when add a Good Thing to Rosemont?…
The New York racing calendar is full of races named for the men instrumental in bringing the sport to life in our state. The roles in racing history of Belmont and Travers, Jerome and Dwyer are well documented, and these men leave an easy-to-follow trail for contemporary race fans to follow. Not so Mr. Eugene…
Before Secretariat, there was Cicada. A decade before Secretariat became the first colt in 25 years to win the Triple Crown, Christopher Chenery (father of Helen) campaigned a filly who was setting her own records. At two, Cicada started 16 times, winning eleven races and never finishing worse than third; among her victories that year…
Brooklyn Backstretch 